Verizon Expands Local Calling For More Than 670,000 Virginia Customers

RICHMOND, Va. - Starting tomorrow, more than 670,000 Verizon customers in Virginia will have larger local calling areas when the company eliminates tolls and other usage charges that customers have paid to call nearby communities. This move is the latest in a series of actions by Verizon to dramatically expand local calling for its customers throughout the state.

"We said the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE would bring real and lasting benefits to Virginians across the commonwealth, and it has done just that," said Robert Woltz, president of Verizon Virginia. "Our expanded local calling program is one more example of these benefits."

Bell Atlantic and GTE, which merged to become Verizon in June 2000, agreed to expand local calling areas between contiguous telephone exchanges after the completion of their merger. In Virginia, Bell Atlantic launched the practice of contiguous local calling in 1994.

"We've long felt that customers in an exchange ought to be able to make local calls to their neighbors in an adjacent exchange," Woltz said. "For the first time, some Virginians will no longer incur a toll charge when they call their county government or their child's school. This is welcome news to many."

The expansion of local calling on April 2 affects Verizon customers in the following exchanges:

As part of its merger agreement, Verizon plans to eliminate tolls and usage charges on additional calling routes early in 2003. When this final wave of expanded local calling is complete, Verizon will have removed tolls and usage charges on more than 700 of its Virginia calling routes, providing a potential savings to more than one million customers.

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 132.1 million access line equivalents and 29.4 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with more than $67 billion in annual revenues and approximately 247,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.